This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. For example, set forth in this section are various drawbacks associated with existing methods for cleaning up leaves that the inventor hereof has recognized.
There are various types rakes, leaf and debris cleanup or pickup systems, which apply to many different types of materials to be cleaned or cleared. As used herein, the terms “leaf,” “leaves,” “debris,” and other like terms are intended to broadly or generically refer to and include any of the wide range of various types of debris or materials that may be cleared. Similarly, the terms “cleanup,” “pickup,” and other like terms are also intended to broadly or generically refer to and include raking, scooping, grabbing, or otherwise cleaning up debris or materials.
There are various ways for cleaning or picking up leaves. For example, two-sided rakes that work like a large clamshell may be used to grab, pickup, and release leaves. Similarly, claw-like gloves may be worn over a user's hands to create tines similar to small rakes to also grab and pickup more leaves or debris than naked hands alone. Fixed-sized funnels, hoops or other types of collars may also be used to hold open garbage or leaf bags while filling. As another option, a net may be used to scoop up leaves. Or, a leaf blower may be used to blow and/or direct leaves into a bag, such as a bag constructed of netting, etc.
Of course, someone may take a more traditional approach, such as using a standard yard rake, garbage can, and/or tarp for collecting, moving, dragging, or otherwise disposing of leaves and debris. Large leaf rakes, often used in conjunction with tarps, are generally one of the most expedient ways to clear or clean up leaves when the leaves or debris only need to be moved to a curb or piled up without any bagging or placing in garbage cans, etc. In which case, leaves may be raked/loaded onto a tarp and then moved in bulk (after loading the tarp with leaves) by dragging or carrying the tarp. For example, the tarp may be moved close to the leaves to be raked such that the leaves only have to be raked short distances. The leaves may then be raked or otherwise moved or piled onto the tarp. After which, the tarp may be moved (e.g., dragged, carried, etc.) to a specified location, such as the curb or leaf pile and emptied there in a variety of manners. For example, the tarp may be emptied by folding and pulling one edge of the tarp over itself and over the debris—continuing to pull the tarp until free of debris (effectively flipping the tarp over in the process).
In short, bulk leaf collection and transfer with tarps—using rakes in their traditional function—is often the most efficient and fastest means (as compared to existing methods) to clear and move large quantities of leaves, such as by transferring smaller collected piles of leaves onto a tarp, then dragging the much larger quantity after it is loaded onto the tarp (e.g., from the collected pile to the desired location such as the curb or compost pile, etc.). Typically, picking up a pile of leaves in scoop or otherwise is generally not as efficient as raking them onto a tarp and dragging the tarp full of leaves. But a scoop is often required or necessary for disposal. Also, in cases where there may not be as large of a quantity of leaves or debris, loading bags or cans may be efficient or otherwise employed.
Raking (along with leaf blowing) is typically the most efficient and fastest means (as compared to existing methods) to gather and collect leaves into a pile. The combination with raking them onto a tarp then dragging the tarp is generally the most efficient means of moving leaves longer distances (such as moving leaves to the curb for seasonal collection, as done by many towns in the United States (generally being collected for mass composting). But for filling garbage cans and bags, it is generally more time consuming to lift (and then compress/compact) numerous batches of leaves of debris than to rake directly into a garbage can or bag. Raking directly into bags tends to be difficult even with rings or other devices that can keep the aperture open. And, the inventor hereof has recognized that the aperture is generally not wide enough for convenient filling of cans or bags by traditional raking directly into the can or bag (especially with round garbage cans and leaf bag openings) as the leaves and similar debris needs to be compressed frequently. For example, a bag or can laying on its side will accept fewer and fewer leaves as the bag or can is being filled by raking leaves into it. Thus, the user may compress or push down the leaves in the bag or can before new leaves may be raked into the bag or can. This is often done by repeatedly up-righting the can to compress the leaves or debris and laying it on its side again.
As noted above, the inventor hereof has recognized various drawbacks associated with existing methods for cleaning up leaves, etc. In addition to the above noted drawbacks, the inventor hereof has also recognized that one of the difficulties with transferring leaves onto tarps is that the tarp may not stay on the ground fully, either from wind or the force of leaves or the rake hitting the tarp's leading edge. This, in turn, may cause the tarp to fold back on itself, where the leaves are pushed under the tarp or under where the tarp had been before folding back on itself. Thus, the tarp would then need to be dragged back and moved to clear those additional leaves not initially properly loaded onto the tarp. Generally, to address this problem, a user may sometimes find it useful to stand on the tarp edge to keep it flat and sealed against the ground while raking, such as by standing with feet spread apart and then raking back onto the tarp between the user's feet where the tarp is held taut. This combination of steps, however, slows down the work progress and can be awkward, as it: 1) requires the tarp to be moved more frequently to fully clear an area or load a pile and move it onto the tarp, or 2) encumbers work by requiring the user to hold the tarp edge down simultaneously while raking (reducing the range or area that can be reached by the user to rake leaves while simultaneously holding the tarp edge against the ground with feet, other weighted objects or even additional persons).
There are also a variety of nets, scoops, clam-shell type rakes to facilitate picking up more leaves than by hand or combination of a hand held against a rake. Yet even these existing methods, require raking followed by scooping/lifting then frequent compression of the leaves or debris until the can or bag is sufficiently filled and compressed (where the compression requires the additional step of putting down the rake, “claws”, or scoop to compress then picking back up the device to rake and/or load another batch).
Devices to keep garbage bags open for use in yard work or garden are available in a variety of fixed sizes. In general, the size (e.g., diameter) of these rims or collars and even funnels is normally fixed and cannot be tailored for a particular use or characteristics of the container being filled. The inventor hereof has recognized that many standard household funnels are not wide enough to use with larger sized particles, such as granules or granular particles, pebbles/stones, and especially, leaf and other garden debris and are not designed to adjust the aperture of the funnel or otherwise size the funnel to fit varying size of containers being filled or type of materials being “funneled.”
Funnels tend to have a fixed diameter, which tends to make smaller funnels incompatible with larger sized particles. For example, funneling large particles by using a relatively small funnel tends to be a slow, time consuming, and difficult (or even unworkable) process. And, often in the case of funnels, the funnel size is not readily available that is appropriate for the materials and the size of the container into which the particles are being funneled, where the containers and particles are larger than what is typical for household liquid funnels. In the case of lawn and garden funnels, they have a fixed aperture/size and are sized only wide enough to pour leaves or debris into the can or bag, such that the funnel size is not nearly wide enough to allow leaves or debris to be raked directly onto the funnel without leaves being raked outside the funnel's opening.